The present invention relates generally as indicated to a floral container and more particularly to a floral container including one or more removable panels bearing, for example, a holiday message/indicia, coupon items, and/or bar code.
A floral item, such as a bouquet of flowers or potted plant, is typically purchased at a floral shop or stand. A bouquet is usually presented to the purchaser in a container that forms a receptacle for the flower""s stems and perhaps a protective covering for the flower""s buds and blooms. A potted plant may be presented in a container that covers the pot and perhaps provides a protective covering for the plant""s buds and blooms. The container may comprise receptacle-forming panels joined together to form a frustoconical shape when in an expanded state to hold the flower bouquet and to lay flat against each other in a collapsed state so that they may be compactly stored until ready for use. The receptacle-forming panels may include, for example, front and rear trapezoidal panels joined together along their slanted lateral edges by an essentially permanent and preferably water impervious seam.
A floral item, such as a bouquet of flowers or a potted plant, is a popular gift of choice for a variety of everyday occasions, personal celebrations, and special holidays. For everyday occasions and personal celebrations (such as birthdays and anniversaries) the purchase date depends on the person being given the gift. However, special holidays, such as Valentine""s Day, Mother""s Day, and Sweetest Day, represent opportunities to sell a large quantity of flowers on particular dates. Accordingly, peaks in purchases in the floral industry sales correspond to special holidays.
The floral industry increases its inventory to accommodate special holiday purchase peaks and typically provides floral containers decorated for the special holiday. While these special indicia are quite popular and in demand for the holiday, once the special holiday is past, the specially decorated bouquet containers lose much of their value. For example, a Valentine""s Day decorated floral container will not have much appeal on February 15th, the day after Valentine""s Day. Accordingly, the florist is forced to either store the excess floral containers for an entire year (usually not an attractive option in view of inventory concerns) or simply scrap the special holiday containers.
Additionally or alternatively, when a floral item is sold in certain settings, it is sometimes necessary or desirable for the container to bear certain information. Some types of information need not be conveyed to an ultimate recipient of a floral gift. For example, it may be desirable to include a coupon on the container to create multiple sales, cross market certain merchandise and/or generate repeat sales. Also, in most retail settings, a bar code conveying price and inventory information must be included somewhere on the container. Other types of information, such as perhaps plant or flower care, should be conveyed to an ultimate recipient but need not remain on the container indefinitely. Further, in certain situations, in may be desired for certain information to remain concealed until a later time.
The present invention provides a floral container comprising receptacle-forming panels joined together to form a receptacle for a flower bouquet or other plants and one or more panels removably joined to one of the receptacle-forming panels so that it may be selectively removed from the receptacle.
The removable panel may include indicia corresponding to a special holiday, such as Valentine""s Day in which case the preferred method of doing business includes removing the panel after the holiday and prior to the purchaser receiving the bouquet. Alternatively, the removable panel may include a coupon for removal by a purchaser, price/inventory information for removal by a retailer, and/or plant care instructions for removal by a recipient.
These and other features of the invention are fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following descriptive annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these embodiments being indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.